29/365

Not my best shot ever. I took this one to quick and forgot to check my exposure so i had to correct it in Lightroom. I kind of like the effect that happened on it, makes it feel old fashioned kind of. But this is my good friend David Holmgrens dog Alice. She spent they day at our house and this was right before she left. lol

So Its Been a While

So it has been months and months since i have posted anything. Things got busy and i guess i was just to lazy to post any new pictures lol. But now i am back and hoping to get back on track. Summer is here and i am out of my first year of school. While i was in school i started a 365 day photo project, where you take a photo a day for 365 days. I got 27 days into it then summer break hit and i started working 80+ hours a week and didnt have internet, so it made it hard to continue the project.  So today i started again. I am hoping to post a photo a day again here on blogger and on my personal facebook page. I am not going to make a post with all the other photos from the first 27 days but i will give you some samples of the best pictures.

So today is day 28 of 365. I went to the lake today with friends and i took my brand new cannon 60D with me. We had a good day, cliff jumping and hanging out and swimming. Got some great shots of them jumping off cliffs. Then as we were leaving, someone we didnt know started doing backflips and such off of the cliffs, and i was lucky enough to catch him in the act. Here is the photo:

 

 and here are a few shots from the previous 365 photos:

 

Kayna Announcement

Torment Within

Not many people outside my friends and family know this, but I suffer from seasonal and chronic depression. Not to the point that its crippling, but enough that it can mess with my life for a while. Recently, I was going through one of my tougher nights and was discussing it with my very good friend Kenn. I told him I needed to change how I was thinking about myself and my depression. He gave me some very good and sound advice about how to go about that and how to start dealing with it. He offered up the suggestion that I start documenting it through photography, so that I can show myself and the world what is going through my head. So I set to it. The process involved using a tripod and a slightly lower shutter speed. The reason behind taking my shirt off was because I felt that there needed to be a connection, a rawness to the emotions, wanted them to feel real. The main feelings behind my depression are loneliness and isolation and that's what I tried to capture. The series will be continued, with myself and with other people as well. Depression effects many people, so many different points of views are good. If you would like to see the full series, check out my photography page on facebook at: Photography By Joe

Miss North Dakota Collegiate America!

Hey guys, its been a while. Life has been busy, but in a very good way. School has been amazing, and kicking my butt. Still working hard to attain what I want in my life. I have done quite a few photo shoots since the last update, but i only want to focus on three, the rest i will cover in another post coming soon. This time i want to focus on three or so shoots i did with one Miss Codi Miller, who is Miss North Dakota Collegiate America. About two months ago, she came to me to help her choose her photo she was going to use for her competition in North Dakota. After looking through her photos, i turned to her and said, "Non of these photos are you. How about i do some photos for you and see what you think of those." She agree and we went out and took some photos. I was really excited about it cause Codi is a beautiful girl. My friend Katheryn was helping me by working the reflector. We went out and got some great shots. She loved them and chose the one she was going to use for the competition in North Dakota. She went off to the competition and won, and not only that but she won Miss Photogenic! Here are some of the photos from that shoot:

Shortly after that, i took her out to do another shoot for me, and for my fan page. I chose a spot near Deadwood, SD, called Mount Roosevelt. There is an amazing tower at the top of a hike, and the colors during the fall are just amazing. Thats the part we focused on, the colors. We went off the path, and wandered through the woods looking for great spots to photograph. She had a purse with her, so i decided that we were going to go with a more fashion feeling and use the bag as the main focus. Now i will be honest, after this shoot, my feeling was that Codi's posing skills were to "pageanty" but she proved me wrong later on. We got some great shots from this shoot that i was happy to put on my fan page, check them out below:

So after winning Miss North Dakota Collegiate America and Miss Photogenic, she had to meet with me again to go through the photos for the national competition. We went through the photos and we just didnt feel we had what we needed. So we planned another shoot. It had started to get cold, so we decided that we were going to do it in the studio here at Black Hills State University, but beings that i havent taken a studio course, i am not allowed in the studio by myself. So my friend Rob helped us out, got us in and set everything up. I have to be honest, i really was not feeling this shoot, something just felt odd about it. After thinking about it later, i decided it was because it was the first time i was in control of a studio session and i dont think i knew enough to run it by myself. Anyway, Codi did an amazing job, she brought me exactly what i was looking for, which was humble and sweet. The photos turned out great and as far as i know she loved them. She chose the ones she wanted for the national competition and sent them in, after getting her directors approval. Here are some of the shots from the shoot:

 

 

Now to Codi i would like to say thank you for letting me do your photos, i had so much fun with them. And you are a beautiful person and soul, i wish you all the luck in the competition. You are going to do amazing!
Check out my fan page Photography by Joe to see the full albums.

Live your passion every day.

Today, i will start my blog off with a thought, what if you could live every day of your life by your passion? How do you think your life would be different? Thats what i am doing now. I dont think i mentioned it in any of my previous blogs, but i am now in college! I am a photography major, which i am sure isnt surprising what so ever. And now that i am here, i am living my passion out ever day. Everything i am doing, from math, to German, to my photography class is leading me to my goal of doing photography as my career.

My first photography class is called "Basic Photography". Its a black and white film class. I havent havent used film since high school. Its interesting because i didnt think i would like it, but i was delightfully surprised. You see, there is something.....i dont know......gratifying, (yup thats the right word), about watching your pictures appear on a piece of photo paper. the amount of time it takes to print the photos is calming. And looking at it from a different point of view, I kind of love the fact that i cant see the photos right away. Its feels like a gamble every time i press the shutter release. And the pay off is seeing the photos show up correctly on a roll of film. So as i close this blog, i ask once again, how would your life be different if you lived your passion every day?

The Alyea Way

Hey guys, its been a while again since i have posted. Lifes been a little busy for me lately, but in a good way! I've started college at Black Hills State University (GO JACKETS!). I am going to be majoring in photography. So its just been a little hectic and things have fallen by the way side. So i am catching back up.

Since my last post, i have done a couple of shoots. The most notable one is the senior session with Kayna Lee. These photos turned out amazing. She is a friend from one of the places i worked this summer. The way she styles her hair and the way she acts works perfectly for my kind of photography. I was a little nervous at first because this was my first paid senior shoot (i had done some before, but not paid). So i went somewhere familiar, which was a location that I had went to with Lisa that last time i was with her. So knowing the area really helped. Then we went to my dads antique auto lot, and did photos there. Kayna wanted 50's pinup style photos. I have got to say these have become some of my best pictures to date. Everything just seemed to work perfectly. and my angles just brought out what was needed in almost every shot.

Which brings me next to one Miss Hannah Alyea. This shoot happened this weekend. It was a senior session, and i have to say, it seemed like everything was working against me. Sky started out fine that day then clouds started to slowly roll in until it was pretty overcast. Usually thats not what most people want for their senior pictures. But Hannah is one of those girls who's personality shines through everything, even a gloomy drab day. She was alot of fun to shoot. I had gotten to know her through a dance show we had done together, and so naturally she came to me for her senior pictures. So even though the day was drab-ish, we had fun and her personality shined through. And we got a little creative and simulated rain. So in the end it came down to the editing to really make everything pop and come together. The photos feel very fall-esqe. And Hannah has seen them and is very excited with them. We will also be doing another shoot because there was one outfit we didnt get to that she wanted to do. So check out the few photos on here then go check out my fan page on facebook: Photography by Joe